Chavez to provide subsidised fuel to poor Londoners

[SPN]

Poor people in London are going to receive subsidised bus fares courtesy of the Venezuelan Government under a deal done by London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Caracas to subsidise London fuel

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has struck a discounted fuel deal with London mayor Ken Livingstone in exchange for expertise on tourism and public transport in Caracas.

The move will give up to a million Londoners living on benefits half-price fares on the city's buses.

.....

Under the agreement Venezuela's state-owned oil company will reduce fuel costs for London by one-fifth.

The Greater London Authority, in return, will set up an office in the Venezuelan capital staffed with advisers on tourism and city management.

Livingstone said both parties had exchanged "those things in which they are rich to the mutual benefit of both".

Of course the Wing Nuts have gone off on one ...........

Angie Bray, the London Assembly Conservative leader, said the mayor should have requested for financial help from the British treasury instead.

"Most Londoners will reflect that the mayor of one of the richest cities in the world buying popularity off the backs of those in one of the poorest cities in the world beggars belief," she said.

"The spectacle of our mayor, who supposedly believes in social justice, going cap in hand to a dictator with a monstrous human rights record – and who presides over a sizeable portion of people in the direst poverty – to skim off a resource which is needed to relieve such poverty, is morally indefensible."

I can just imagine the headline: Conservative Leader calls for subsidised bus transport for poor people

Not goin' to happen Angie!

[meriwether]

This Chavez has an eye for publicity that leaves Michael O'Leary in the Ha'penny place.

[Gerrry]

Poor people in London are going to receive subsidised bus fares courtesy of the Venezuelan Government under a deal done by London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Caracas to subsidise London fuel

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has struck a discounted fuel deal with London mayor Ken Livingstone in exchange for expertise on tourism and public transport in Caracas.

The move will give up to a million Londoners living on benefits half-price fares on the city's buses.

.....

Under the agreement Venezuela's state-owned oil company will reduce fuel costs for London by one-fifth.

The Greater London Authority, in return, will set up an office in the Venezuelan capital staffed with advisers on tourism and city management.

Livingstone said both parties had exchanged "those things in which they are rich to the mutual benefit of both".

Of course the Wing Nuts have gone off on one ...........
[quote:2f0r6mmf]Angie Bray, the London Assembly Conservative leader, said the mayor should have requested for financial help from the British treasury instead.

"Most Londoners will reflect that the mayor of one of the richest cities in the world buying popularity off the backs of those in one of the poorest cities in the world beggars belief," she said.

"The spectacle of our mayor, who supposedly believes in social justice, going cap in hand to a dictator with a monstrous human rights record – and who presides over a sizeable portion of people in the direst poverty – to skim off a resource which is needed to relieve such poverty, is morally indefensible."

I can just imagine the headline: Conservative Leader calls for subsidised bus transport for poor people

Not goin' to happen Angie! [/quote:2f0r6mmf]

Shes not very knowledgable either is she? "dictator with a monstrous human rights record" is her description

[Thac0man]

Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Oil, the source of all the worlds problems, and apparently the cure too

[NeilW]

Shes not very knowledgable either is she? "dictator with a monstrous human rights record" is her description

She might not be very knowledgeable but she has a point. It is extremely questionable whether Venezuala should be subsidising transport in London.

[St Disibod]

Of course the Wing Nuts have gone off on one ...........

Tell me SPN, can you engage with those you disagree with without the hyperbole and vitriol?

On the specifics of this deal, it seems a good deal for London (and Ken Livingstone) and if that's what Mr Chávez wants to do with his country's money he has a mandate to do it.

I don't like Hugo Chávez, but saying that Livingstone can easily justify this deal- London gets more out of it than it puts in and the UK already deals with much more unsavoury regimes to meet its energy requirements.

What Venezuela gets out of this is much more questionable. It's estimated that this deal will cost the Bolivarian Republic a net £16 million per annum, money that would be better spent in Venezuela if Chavez was putting Venezuelans first. The traffic and planning advice Caracas will get in return is of questionable value- does the city really need advice and recommendations on bus lanes, Oyster cards and public private partnerships? Raising the price of petrol- which stands at 5 cents (US) a litre currently- would do much to alleviate current problems, and extra buses could be brought in. I can't help but feel Caracas could get the advice it needs at a fraction of the cost.

However, perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps the global role that Chávez is thrashing out for Venezuela is in its long term interests. So I wouldn't criticise this deal to heavily. However, some of Chávez's other habits are another matter: see relevant thread, and further links to other threads, here.

[Joeyjoejoe]

a dictator with a monstrous human rights record

Who's she talking about, Thatcher's mate Pinochet?

[DOD]

This Chavez has an eye for publicity that leaves Michael O'Leary in the Ha'penny place.

Yeah, well when Michael O' Leary does as much for poor people as Chavez has, maybe then their names can be used in the same sentence. Until then it is nothing short of blasphemy.

[DOD]

a dictator with a monstrous human rights record

Who's she talking about, Thatcher's mate Pinochet?

Or Thatcher herself?

[meriwether]

This Chavez has an eye for publicity that leaves Michael O'Leary in the Ha'penny place.

Yeah, well when Michael O' Leary does as much for poor people as Chavez has, maybe then their names can be used in the same sentence. Until then it is nothing short of blasphemy.

What benefits are accruing to the Venezualans out of this?
Advice on tourism and public transport?

Does anyone think Chavez got ripped off?